Histomorphology of testis in the gastropod Pomacea bridgesii.

VALDEZ I; PUCCI ALCAIDE A; WINIK BC; CATALÁN M

Mendoza

Congreso; XXIV Annual Scientific Meeting Tucumán Biology Association; 2008

Sociedades de Biología de la República Argentina

HISTOMORPHOLOGY OF TESTIS IN THE GASTROPOD Pomacea bridgessii Valdez I, Pucci Alcaide A, Winik B, Catalán M. Fac. Ciencias. Naturales. UNT. E-mail: catalan@csnat.unt.edu.ar P. bridgessii is a diecious oviparous South American amphibian gastropod. The aim of this work is to study the microscopic structure of P. bridgessii testis, processing the samples with routine histological technicque. The testis, covered by a cubic ephithelial monolayer, presents numerous seminiferous tubules formed by Sertoli and germinals. cells The former are irregular in shape and present a voluminous nucleus with one or two nucleoli and a slightly acidophilous cytoplasm. The germinal cells generate simultaneously three types of sperm. Eusperm have an elongated head, helicoidally folded, and a long tail. The apyrene paraesperm have no nuclei and present a fusiform body and a caudal tuft of flagella. The oligopyrene parasperm present a pyriform head with residual chromatine and a long tail with a robust middle piece. Conclusions: The spermatic polymorphism of P. bridgessii implies the occurrence of different spermatogenic mechanisms. Eusperm have the typical morphology of introsperm. As in P. canaliculata, P. bridgessii presents two types of parasperm, although apyrene parasperm have a greater number of flagella.